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The Republican Party, after a clobbering in 2008 at all levels, won off-year governor's races Tuesday in New Jersey and Virginia.
But a Democrat, Bill Owens, won a special election in a heavily Republican upstate New York congressional district that had been held by the GOP for generations. Doug Hoffman, running as a conservative, forced Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava out of the race with help from nationally known conservative figures but conceded to Owens.
"This one was worth the fight," Hoffman said. "And it's only one fight in the battle, and we have to keep fighting."
In New Jersey, Gov. Jon Corzine conceded the election to former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie, who picked up about half the vote to 45 percent for Corzine and 5 percent for Chris Daggett, a former Republican environmental official running as an independent.
Christie was the first Republican to win statewide in New Jersey since Christie Whitman was re-elected governor in 1997.
In Virginia, former Republican state Attorney General Robert McDonnell won an early and decisive victory over state Sen. Creigh Deeds. The Republicans took all statewide offices and expanded their majority in the House of Delegates.
Republicans cast the New Jersey and Virginia victories as a referendum on President Barack Obama. Democrats said voters were reacting to a sour economy.
"People are disgruntled and angry," said New Jersey Democratic state Sen. Loretta Weinberg, Corzine's pick for lieutenant governor. "When people get angry and hostile, the attitude is, 'Throw the bums out, whoever they are.'"